Leifchild, John R.; Cornwall: its Mines and Miners. With Sketches of Scenery, designed as a Introduction to Metallic Mines… London, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855. Octavo, pp. 2, vii, 303, text illustrations, ads on front and rear paste downs.
This rare work is complete and in the original brown cloth with stamped borders, gilt titles and “Traveler’s Library” embossed name stamped on front cover. The binding is tight, spine edges and corners restored, boards rubbed. The text is clean with early penciled underlining and marginal notes. Signature of James P. St Aubyn with 1855 date on upper title page. Leifchild, The St Aubyn family have owned extensive properties in Cornwall since the 14th century and are the current owners of St Michael's Mount.
John Leifchild (1815-?) was an English writer who studied and wrote a number of works on England’s mining industry during the period when the industrial revolution was beginning. His above first edition on the Cornwall mines is very rare.
Leifchild begins the book with a discussion of the Cornwall region and its prominent features. This is followed by a brief description of the geology.and mining district. He devotes much of the book to the ore deposits of copper and tin deposits, the veins, their structure and genesis, the various mines on those veins and the methods used by the miners to exploit the deposits. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL WORK, NOT A REPRINT
